"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8 NKJV)
It is one of the Ten Commandments. It is displayed in various places around the world. My first trip to the Missouri State Capital in Jefferson City included a viewing of a display of the Ten Commandments in tablet form...with the beautiful backdrop of the Missouri River included.
With this instruction by God, there has been little thought given to this commandment and its actual meaning. In general, many simply attribute to this command some requirement to attend church services on Sunday!
Yet...in truth, the Fourth Commandment has no content by which we measure our devotion to God based on attendance of denominational services deemed to be "Worship Services." Sadly...I have seldom heard a sermon regarding the SABBATH which delves into the IMMENSE SIGNIFICANCE of the Commandment.
Now...before some televangelist hype takes hold of what I am about to teach...as the norm in "prophetic" and "wisdom" and "revelation" circles is to claim some "new insight and revelation" on Scriptural doctrine...I want to make this fact known:
What I am about to deal with is fully Scriptural...and it is actually CLEARLY revealed within the Word of God.
Instead of claiming some "new insight", I sit to write with much wonder as to HOW and WHY the Church seems to SO MISUNDERSTAND the doctrine of the SABBATH. It is akin to one of my recent blogs in which I used a common teaching of the Church (noted in the declaration from pulpits from the earliest days of my recollection) which proclaims, "The Bible says the Devil is a thief! And the Bible says that the THIEF...the DEVIL...comes to steal, kill, and destroy!" But...as troubling as it is...that declaration is simply WRONG! Jesus was NOT discussing Satan when He labeled someone a THIEF.
In reality, when Jesus spoke those words, Jesus was calling PASTORS "hirelings"...noting that these HIRELINGS do not actually care for the flock at all! Jesus was warning the people to BEWARE of these SELF-SERVING PASTORS...telling the people that these "hirelings" will USE the flock for personal gain...STEALING their money...then KILLING them by DESERTING them when the wolf comes, and totally DESTROYING the flock. Jesus says that any PASTOR who holds the position only for PERSONAL GAIN is a THIEF...stealing from the flock in every possible way!
Although the passage SPECIFICALLY is referring to these self-serving shepherds...many CONTINUE to misrepresent the passage. And...the fact that Jesus is warning the Church about UNCARING, SELFISH PASTORS and that He is NOT speaking about Satan is actually a BIG DEAL...as Jesus was warning us about MEN and their DESTRUCTIVE POWER when they MISUSE it!
The same misinformation and misunderstandings about the SABBATH are creating dangerous doctrines today...as a return to LEGALISM is being espoused under the banner of ENLIGHTENMENT!
So...thus we begin.
THE FIRST SABBATH:
"In the beginning, God created...", thus beginning and establishing the eternality of CREATOR...and the starting point of His CREATION. From there, we find an account of the creation of all things...as the origin of all things is found in the supernatural power of Almighty God. And...once done with His works of CREATION...we discover this:
Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made."
From the foundation of CREATION, God established a DAY OF REST.
At first glance, it almost seems insignificant. Yet...being God, the reality is this: God did not NEED a day of REST...as His power is from everlasting to everlasting...and in Him is no weakness. So...noting this reality, we then accept the wording of this passage in totality, as God "sanctified" this day...a day when all WORK ceased...and REST was established.
THE SECOND SABBATH:
It is a long venture through history which allows us to arrive at THE SECOND SABBATH.
The world struggled with SIN...and God's wrath had been kindled against humanity...and a GREAT FLOOD covered the earth. Only Noah and some of his family remained to REBUILD and REPLENISH the earth. Abraham became the "father of many nations"...David had risen from a shepherd boy to be a KING...and Israel had struggled through times of OBEDIENCE mixed with REBELLION.
It would be during all of this that we find Israel's time of EXODUS from Egypt...and it is here we again see a reference to the SABBATH...as the Ten Commandments were established by God. We find some insight in Deuteronomy 5:15:
"And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."
Moses is speaking to the people here, and he has just expounded on the SABBATH. There...in verses 12-14...Moses reiterates a DAY OF REST...when no man shall work...nor ANY who reside within his household...nor those who dwell within the gates of his property, be they stranger or son, slave or servant, male or female...nor any animal of burden.
(This is only my second time to ever write any teaching on this subject...and just as before, I feel the AMAZING anointing and Presence of God even now as I write...as I know where this is going!)
Again...we see this theme regarding Sabbath: Entering into REST!
But here, we build upon that initial revelation...as we see TWO inclusions which reveal the PURPOSE of that REST:
1. The people are to CEASE their LABOR...even the animals which carry the BURDEN of much of that WORK are to be given REST.
2. The Children of Israel had been SLAVES, existing in BONDAGE...and God MIRACULOUSLY brought them out of that BONDAGE...bringing them into REST.
Of course...they were headed where? To the PROMISED LAND!
But...sin and rebellion would detain them...and a generation died in the wilderness. And the pattern began...as Israel would move from times of OBEDIENCE to times of REBELLION. God REPEATEDLY called His children back to Him...but soon Israel would turn a deaf ear, and God would go silent.
For four hundred years...the people existed....but they did not LIVE! And...then...one day...
John the Baptist was baptizing people in the river...and a man appeared asking to be baptized! And John would cry out:
"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Within 3 years, that Lamb of God would hang on a cruel cross...fulfilling the prophetic words of John that day! There...on that cross...was the revelation of THE SECOND SABBATH!
You see...salvation had been established through LABOR throughout history...from the FALL OF MAN in the Garden of Eden until this day of CRUCIFIXION. For every sin, there had to be a SACRIFICE. Over and over...the people came to the PRIESTS...and through those priests they would offer a lamb or a dove...a blood offering by which they could find FORGIVENESS. It took EFFORT...it took WORK...it took LABOR!
But...then...GRACE appeared!!!
("Grace! Grace! God's grace! Grace that will pardon and cleanse within! Grace! Grace! God's grace! Grace that is greater than all my sin!")
And...when Jesus cried, "It is finished!" on the cross that dark and dreary day...all of our LABOR ceased...as the Lamb of God...Jesus Christ...once and for all provided the SACRIFICE needed which would give us the FREE GIFT of SALVATION: undeserved, "unmerited favor." God, in the form of a man, gave His life on the cross that day...
...so that we could CEASE our LABOR...being given the promise of SALVATION by which we can live as OVERCOMERS in Christ Jesus...with the promise of an ETERNITY WITH HIM as the reward for our SURRENDERED LIVES to the Lamb of God!
Paul would tell us "by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
Jesus did away with the need for animal sacrifice. The constant LABOR to uphold the strict RULES which were commanded by God for the preparation of the sacrifice which would only COVER our sins now MELTED AWAY in the wonderous CRIMSON FLOW of the CROSS of JESUS CHRIST...and what was once only COVERED by a sacrifice became CLEANSED by the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!
So...we now see in the SABBATH not only REST...but the ceasing of ALL LABOR...even the labor which was necessary for attaining and maintaining SALVATION!
Thus far...we have seen the SABBATH at CREATION and at the CROSS.
But...we now await one more SABBATH!
THE THIRD...AND FINAL...SABBATH:
Jesus is about to be crucified...and, in an UPPER ROOM, He eats with His chosen Disciples. With these words, Jesus tells them that they MUST NOT FORGET His SACRIFICE for them:
"Do this in remembrance of Me."
The call to REMEMBER:
An urging to KEEP ALIVE in their HEARTS the PURPOSE of what He had come to do: provide the WAY of SALVATION for all mankind...and...telling them to REMEMBER the HIGH PRICE which was paid for the GRACE they would now find living within them.
It hearkens back to CREATION. It urges a RECOLLECTION of a PROMISE made...and a PROMISE given.
A Messiah had been promised...and that PROMISE was Jesus Christ. And in Him was SALVATION...total...complete...without flaw or blemish.
It hearkens back to this:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
The SABBATH: a DAY OF REST, when all WORK must CEASE, and our LABORS are over!
After His death on the cross, Jesus arose after 3 days...victorious over sin and death! And...before He left this earth, Jesus left us with ONE LAST PROMISE: to RETURN again for His Bride!
In Acts 1, two angels appear and say, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." Then...Paul tells us of the moment when "the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NKJV)
We now await the FULFILLMENT of that PROMISE as BELIEVERS!
We actually are now awaiting....
THE FULFILLMENT OF SABBATH!!!
In THE FIRST SABBATH...we see Jesus as CREATOR!
In THE SECOND SABBATH...we see Jesus as SAVIOR.
In THE THIRD SABBATH...we will see Jesus as RETURNING, TRIUMPHANT KING!
You see...in the SABBATH is the PROMISE OF REST. We see in the FIRST and SECOND SABBATHS that all WORK and LABOR must CEASE...and the people enter into REST!
At CREATION and at the CROSS...the WORK had to be FINISHED...COMPLETED ("It is finished!")...and THEN came REST! This same COMPLETION is what we now await...as all of creation now awaits the RETURN of CHRIST...and time as we know it will be COMPLETE!
We now await the RETURN of Jesus Christ...and, for the BELIEVER, this will usher in the SABBATH...our DAY OF REST!
But...THIS time...there will be:
No more WORK...no more LABOR...no more TRIALS...no more SICKNESS...no more PAIN...no more DEATH...no more STRUGGLE...and no more SIN!!!
Paul would fully declare what SABBATH was NOT! It was NOT some RITUALISTIC ADHERENCE to some Old Testament LAW which is now IMPOSSIBLE to KEEP!
(Read Colossians 2 in totality!)
In Colossians 2, Paul tells a GENTILE CHURCH that they are NOT to let ANYONE judge them regarding "meat or drink", feasts ("respect of an holyday"), "new moons"...nor the "sabbath days." These believers had NEVER followed Jewish law...never adhering to these strict religious laws. And Paul told them they were NOT to worry about those who DEMANDED such ritual...claiming it was REQUIRED PRACTICE!
Both here and in his letter to the Galatians, Paul asks them WHY they would let ANYONE deceive them by their INSISTENCE that they RETURN or ADHERE to BONDAGE under the LAW...as Paul denotes a return to "Touch not; taste not; handle not"...saying that is being "subject to ordinances...after the doctrines and commandments of men." (verses 20-22)
But the KEY to understanding the SABBATH from the writings of Paul is found in verse 17, when Paul says, "Which are a shadow of things to come." Everything in the OLD TESTAMENT foreshadows "things to come." Even here, we see Paul teaching us that the SABBATH represents a FUTURE PROMISE!
For Israel...it pointed to Jesus coming as MESSIAH!
For the Church...it points to Jesus as SOON COMING KING!
So...with all of that...what is God saying when He said: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
The Fourth Commandment is a call for us to REMEMBER:
1. To remember that it was JESUS who came in CREATION...RESTING when all was finished! ("In the beginning was the Word....")
2. To remember it was JESUS who came to die on the CROSS...bringing REST when He cried "It is finished!"...as all aspects of LABOR ceased, and SALVATION became a FREE GIFT which was offered by the shed blood of Christ!
3. To remember it is JESUS who is soon to RETURN AGAIN as the BRIDEGROOM, receiving to Himself His BRIDE...the CHURCH...as we enter into REST...and our LABORS are over...and our WORK on earth is done!
That day is coming soon, Child of God!
So...REJOICE! KNOWING that the pain and struggles of this life will soon be over...and what AWAITS those of us who BELIEVE in OBEDIENCE is beyond ALL that we could ever DREAM OF or ever HOPE FOR!
So...
"Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy."
God bless!
I’ll have to respectfully disagree with your teaching as stated in this article. Why is it that so many who claim to be Christian are so set against keeping God’s law? Christ said in John 14:15 “If you love me keep my commandments”. I didn’t say it, my pastor didn’t say it, Jesus the Christ said it. He says again in Matthew 5:17-18 that he didn’t come to abolish the law and that not one jot or one tittle shall pass until all be fulfilled. Jesus and all His apostles kept the Sabbath, even after Christ died, so how is it that most main stream Christians are taught that the law was done away. Who did away with the law of God? Christ never did and never taught that. You pointed to the apostle Paul in Colossians 2 as proof that Christians should not keep God’s law, when in truth Paul was warning believers of the Hellenistic apostasy derived from the pagan society outside the church. Paul was telling the true believers of Christ, not to let that outside element judge them or trouble them for following God’s commandments ie; the Sabbath, the dietary laws, and the festivals of God. Colossians 2 seems to be a trump card for those who want to teach that Christians are no longer obliged to keep God’s law. By the way, there are many scriptural references clearly showing that Paul kept the Sabbath and Holy Days, so why in Colossians would he teach that they were no longer applicable? Reference Acts 18:21, Acts 20:16, 1Corinthians 5:8, as just a few examples that the apostle Paul kept God’s law.
ReplyDeleteYou state that the key to understanding Colossians 2 is revealed in verse 17, “the shadow of things to come”. In order to cast a shadow there must first be something in place. The sun can shine on an empty field, but unless there is an object between the sun and the ground there cannot be a shadow. The Sabbath and Holy Days are pointing to “things to come”, when Christ will return to establish God’s Kingdom on earth and without keeping them, one cannot come to a right knowledge of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind.
I’ve always considered myself a “common sense” kind of guy and what sense does it make that Christ came to this earth to reveal the Father and to teach the Truth and to encourage us to obey His Words, to set the example of how to live and then bearing the sin of all mankind on the cross, becoming our sacrifice, so that we have the hope that we do not have to suffer the penalty of eternal death, that we deserve, and then claim He wants us to now disregard all He said and taught.
We as the creation cannot decide for ourselves how to worship the Creator. We as His creation can’t pick and choose scripture to support a doctrine. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 tells us that God inspired scripture and that ALL scripture, the entire bible, is to be the source of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. I have not found anywhere in the entirety of scripture where this has been abolished. Certainly God would have provided biblical instruction that all this would be changed when Christ died, instead we find ample evidence in scripture that Jesus Christ while alive and the apostles long after His death continued to obey the Word of God and taught and kept His commandments. Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
So....tell me which laws you seek to continue to obey:
DeleteWill you stone your children if they are disobedient?
Will you take every 7th year off from work?
Will you take every 50th year and and return ALL property in your possession to its original owner?
Beyond that, you are simply WRONG in your assertions regarding the Colossian church. Where do you get your information?? The Colossians were GENTILES...as the Gospel was now taken to the Gentiles upon the resurrection of Jesus. They were NOT a Jewish congregation and they did NOT follow Jewish law.
Jesus came to FULFILL the laws of Sacrifice...and Ceremonial law was ordained as a FORESHADOWING...as PICTURES of REVELATION...of the COMING MESSIAH. Jesus WAS and IS the FULIFLLMENT of those laws.
If you are making question regarding OBEDIENCE to Christ...then OF COURSE that is required. But you are WAY OFF BASE on your references and claims. You evidently have NOT delved into Scripture...as your claims regarding the Colossians easily reveals. Not ONE of the churches which Paul wrote to was a Jewish congregation. They were all CONVERTS from Gentile people groups. They had NEVER observed Jewish law, feast days, etc. in almost every case. Your SUPPOSITIONS about things do not equate to truth...not even remotely.
Are we to obey God's law? Yes. Did God establish the 7th day as a day of rest? Is that day supposed by many to be the day we must worship? Yes. Do YOU worship on the 7th day of the week...or the first day (Sunday)? If you worship on Sunday...based on your OWN interpretation...you are guilty of breaking God's law.
No...the Sabbath not ONCE referred to ANYTHING other than a day of REST. From the beginning, God established it as REST. He did NOT say "Worship on the Sabbath, and keep it holy." The Sabbath in EVERY Biblical reference was a day to REST...abstaining from ANY and ALL work. Tell me: Why were they able to accuse Jesus, saying He did WORK on the Sabbath by healing someone...doing so NOT in the Temple, but out on the street?
It was not GOD who said "The Sabbath is to be the day we must go to church." No...Jesus (God) established Sabbath as a day of REST...and God commanded us to REMEMBER what that rest represents...in Jesus (GRACE brings REST...as it ends the WORK of SACRIFICES forever) and in the return of Jesus for His Bride, to give them REST.
And...if you cannot find any Scripture which shows that some things were and have indeed ended...then you TRULY need to read and study Scripture.
Let's see...start with Hebrews...which discusses the INSUFFICIENCY of the LAW...and how IMPERFECT it was. And...how when the PERFECT came (which was Jesus...the PERFECT SACRIFICE), the old IMPERFECT way became OBSELETE and UNNECESSARY. Hebrews is FULL of this very revelation!
And...Paul himself wrote EXTENSIVELY on this same subject...even asking the Galatians who had "vexed" them by telling them that they must conform to the law! Paul, in Galatians, SPECIFICALLY denounces ANY return to the law, naming it as BONDAGE...telling them that the law was IMPERFECT...and that the reason for Christ's death was to give a way of salvation...because NO MAN could EVER keep every aspect of the law!
Again...you are NOT talking to a man teaching this HYOER-GRACE manure! No! Once saved, we must live OBEDIENT to Christ...but NOT to Old Testament law!
Go study the 3 different types of LAW in Scripture. Yes...we must obey God's law today...but you are DEFINING the Sabbath by JEWISH LAW...not as it is seen and fulfilled in Christ on the Cross...and TO BE further fulfilled at what we call the RAPTURE.
I would suggest you begin to STUDY. You have GREATLY misunderstood and misrepresented Scripture...and you have GREATLY misrepresented the Colossians. They were GENTILES...not JEWS.
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ReplyDeleteSince you doubt my exegesis of Sabbath and rest...I will let Scripture speak on my behalf. http://m.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/4.html
ReplyDeleteThen...you will find this in Hebrews 7...
ReplyDeletehttp://m.biblestudytools.com/nkjv/hebrews/passage.aspx?q=hebrews+7:11-28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPogIkf-Xu8
ReplyDelete